


we should just kiss (like real people do)

by romanholigay



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Bisexual Richie Tozier, F/F, Genderswap, Internalized Homophobia, Period-Typical Homophobia, but that's, eddie and richie are Gal Pals in this, eddie is a lesbian, eddie just feels a lil ashamed for a moment, idk how to tag, they're around 16/17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-15 19:52:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13038237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romanholigay/pseuds/romanholigay
Summary: eddie’s heartbeat kicks. “you talk about kissing. they’re with—they’re all these kisses with boys, yeah?” richie pauses before she nods in confirmation, not really knowing what eddie’s getting at.“have you ever kissed a girl? have you ever wondered what it would be like to kiss a girl?”or where richie and eddie are girls, eddie's never had her first kiss, and she can't stop thinking about richie.





	we should just kiss (like real people do)

Eddie spent a lot of time thinking about kissing, the mechanics and technicalities of it all. Fifty percent of the time was spent in wonder, the other fifty was spent in disgust.

Richie spent a lot of time talking about kissing. Who she’s kissed, where and when. Who she planned to kiss again soon. She wasn’t shy about it all, rather the opposite. Richie Tozier was proud of the sexuality that she owned and she flaunted it. She got shamed for it often, but if the words hurt Richie didn’t let it show. 

Eddie found herself focussing on the names falling from Richie’s lips. She felt some sort of gnawing in the pit of her stomach, dare she call it jealousy. She urges it to go away. 

The feeling usually does, until Richie talks about her latest makeout in the back of the library with some senior, or her most recent recollection of getting felt up in the back of some boy’s truck. Every time she feels worse. 

Sometimes she wishes she was the one kissing Richie, but she doesn’t like to think about that too much. That wouldn’t be good for Eddie because boys like girls and girls like boys. Richie likes boys. 

The Losers were all sat in Bill’s basement, crammed together on his pull-out futon or the floor. It was Winter, and the lake effect snow from all of the bodies of water in Maine was brutal and chilling. Eddie was laid in between Richie’s (long) outstretched legs and rested back against her chest, covered up by a crocheted blanket.

Richie had her hand running through Eddie’s hair, careful to avoid tangles. Eddie would smile softly every time she heard Richie laugh at something on screen—what were they watching again? She doesn’t know, she was too wrapped up in her thoughts of RichieRichieRichie. 

Eddie drifts asleep to the sound of Richie’s heartbeat halfway through the film. She could have sworn that it started racing faster when Eddie curled further into her friend.

 

—

 

“You okay there Eddie?” 

Eddie was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of Bev. Her eyes shoot over—away from Richie, away from her lips—to see her redhead friend, lips upturned in a smirk. 

Eddie flushes, playing with her hair. “What? Oh, uh, yeah.”

“Eds, you’ve been doing that a lot lately. Zoning out. Are you sick my love? Do I need to call an ambulance?” Richie asks, eyes widening dramatically, almost cartoon-like. She presses her palm to Eddie’s forehead, then to both of her cheeks.

“Don’t let Eddie’s mom hear that. She’ll be quarantined for a month,” Stan points out, only half joking.

Eddie feels herself flush at the fact that Richie’s hands are on her cheeks. She’s staring at her intently. “Eds Spagheds, I have bad news.”

“Richie—,”

“—I’m afraid you’re burning up. You’ve gotta spend the rest of the day with me. We’ll leave school A.S.A.P.”

“What? No. Rich, I can’t skip.” 

They were only in lunch, leaving four more periods that day. Two of them were pointless (gym and study hall) but she couldn’t have skipping on her record. 

“But Eds, I’ve gotta take care of you.” And. 

And there was Richie’s mouth again, her lips in a pout as she silently begged Eddie to skip class with her. She would try and try but her thoughts couldn’t escape…that with Richie. Kissing her best friend. It would be so simple if it weren’t for the fact that they were two girls, and Richie was insanely confident and out of her league.

Ultimately, in the end, Eddie found herself in Richie’s beaten up car on her way to the Tozier household. 

“Are your parents going to be home?” Eddie asked, but she already knew the answer to the question.

Richie’s neutral smile faltered for a second before returning, a bit more forced than before. “They’re on a business trip,” is all she said. The Toziers were always on a ‘business trip’, leaving Richie to an empty house.

“I’m sorry Rich,” Eddie apologized.

“What’re you sorry for Eds? You didn’t do anything wrong. You could never do wrong in my eyes,” she winks at Eddie with her response before pulling in her driveway.

“You know I’m not sick, right?” Eddie tries to clear up. She follows Richie into her house and shuts the door behind them, heading up the stairs to her friend’s room.

“Of course you aren’t sick. You’ll probably live to be 150 with the way you take care of that pretty little body of yours. All the vitamins and the amount of times you use hand sanitizer a day.” Eddie flushes at this statement, sitting down on the girl’s bed and looking everywhere but at Richie. 

“But I figured we needed some one-on-one time, you know?” Eddie looks up at her. “Eds, if I’m being completely honest, I feel like you’ve been avoiding me. Did I do something?”

That’s the thing, though. Richie didn’t do anything wrong. She did everything right, from the way she jokes with Eddie but makes sure to compliment her and make her feel important too, to the way that Richie looks. With her curly hair and pretty, soft looking lips. Eddie thinks her favorite feature of Richie’s is her eyes. They’re so warm and inviting despite her loud and somewhat obnoxious exterior. 

She loved the girl, knew her like the back of her hand, and that scared her more than anything.

“Yeah, I’m good, we’re good,” Eddie gulps. “I’ve just been busy. Studying, you know.”

Richie sees right through the response, but doesn’t question it. “Mkay Eds, whatever you say.”

 

—

 

Things changed the day Eddie agreed to have a sleepover at her house with Richie. They had played a couple of games and watched a movie before heading to bed, both snuggling up in Eddie’s twin size.

They laid facing each other, Eddie’s bare legs tangled together with Richie’s clothed ones. (Eddie slept in cloth shorts no matter the weather). 

Richie’s eyes were closed and she had a slight smile on her lips as her chest rose and fell with her breaths. The other girl, however, was wide awake, thoughts flooding her brain. 

Eddie looked at her friend, pretty as ever. She felt her heart start to beat faster, like her body knew what was to come before it even happened.

“Rich, you awake?” she whispered.

Richie noncommittally hummed, cracking her eyes open to peer over at Eddie. “What’s up buttercup?” Her voice was raspy and soft from being half-asleep.

“I…,” Eddie trailed off. “It’s stupid. Nevermind. Goodnight Richie.”

Eddie squeezed her eyes shut tight, hoping everything would just fade away and she would be at peace in her sleep. She felt her hair get tucked behind her ear and her brown eyes shot open. Richie softly, encouragingly, was smiling at her.

“C’mon. Tell me what’s been eating at your cute little brain.”

And that—that’s where the line gets frayed. That’s where Eddie can’t tell the difference between normal Richie and how she jokes and flirts with everyone, and Eddie’s Richie, the way she acts when they’re alone. That’s why she wants to kiss her. That’s why she probably, most likely, loves her.

Eddie’s heartbeat kicks. “You talk about kissing. They’re with—They’re all these kisses with boys, yeah?” Richie pauses before she nods in confirmation, not really knowing what Eddie’s getting at.

“Have you ever kissed a girl? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to kiss a girl?” 

She’s met with deafening silence from her friend. When Eddie looks up at Richie she sees a mixture of surprise and confusion and...something else written on her face.

“I told you it was stupid.” Eddie is quick to defend herself, feeling nervous and like she just gave a part of her away with nothing in return.

“It’s different,” Richie says quietly, finally. Eddie looks up at her, and the world stops moving. 

“Girls are...how do I even start?” Richie blows out a puff of air. “They’re softer. Boys are rough and harsh. They’re forceful without meaning it sometimes. Boys are cold. Girls, though, are a whole other species. Kissing a girl is warm. They have long hair to thread your fingers through, and eyelashes that flutter, cheeks that blush when you pull apart.”

Richie bites her lip, meeting Eddie’s eyes and then continuing once again. “Girls have curves and soft edges and smooth hands to hold. Nothing is rushed, Eds, it’s like you can be there with a girl and everything is okay while the moment lasts.”

Eddie gulps, feeling her face heat up. She didn’t expect Richie to explain like that. She expected a denial and a broken heart.

“Eddie?”

“Yeah?”

Richie reaches and runs a hand through Eddie’s hair, resting her hand there. “Can I kiss you?”

Out of all of the times that she imagined kissing Richie, she imagined fumbling and nerves and sweaty palms. The reality of the situation was exactly how Richie described it, a feeling of comfort and grounding. 

When Richie and Eddie’s lips meet, it’s an awkward angle considering that they’re both resting on pillows. But it’s something, and it feels like everything to them. Richie smiles into their first kiss, of many, like it’s what she’s been waiting for. She pulls back and bites her lip, making eye contact with Eddie after a moment of silence.

Eddie lets out the faintest laugh that Richie has ever heard spill from her mouth, like she can’t believe what just happened.

(Eddie can’t. She can’t believe it in the morning when Richie asks if she can kiss her ‘hello’. She’s in disbelief, still, when Richie asks her to be her girlfriend a month later).

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in 30 minutes because i'm fuckin gay and i want a cute gf. I'm Sorry


End file.
